CHAPTER 58

Siyeon was a little taken aback, but she took his hand and went up to the porch. The stairs were quite steep, so there was a creaking sound involuntarily.

“The newlyweds are just like sesame!”

(T/N: When you see a “cute couple that is so in love” you would say, “kkae-ga sso-da-ji-da.” This means “sesame is pouring out”.)

“Are you shivering because you’re afraid someone will steal the bride?”

The adults teased Ijun after seeing them. Siyeon felt her cheeks getting hot for no reason.

“Uncle Bongdam, you should cut down on the alcohol.”

Ijun glanced at his relatives and said with a serious face.

“You rascal! Hahaha!”

Laughter and chatter filled the air. Blushing like a peach, Siyeon followed Ijun to the room where his grandfather was. Standing in front of the wooden sliding door, Ijun spoke in a soft voice.

“Grandfather, we’re here.”

“Good. Come in.”

Ijun’s grandfather looked uneasy. Ijun and Siyeon bowed to him and sat down side by side in front of him. After staring at Ijun for a while, he finally spoke.

“You didn’t go on a honeymoon trip?”

“We had some things to take care of.”

“Even though there was nothing wrong at work?”

“We had some issues with the adults in Ichon-dong, so we went to Hannam-dong.”

“What does that have to do with you and those folks?”

His voice was cold. And Siyeon realized that Ijun went to Hannam-dong that day not for Eunhye’s sake, but because of issues with the parents and grandmother in Ichon-dong.

So why was Eunhye at his house, and why didn’t he clear up his misunderstanding?

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Did someone die? Or was someone’s life in danger?”

“Grandfather.”

“Just for such a thing, you ruined the once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon for your wife?”

“…”

Ijun closed his lips with a stern expression. He found it difficult to understand his grandfather’s sudden change in attitude, going from urging him to consider Professor Kim’s family as real family and live with them, to suddenly treating them as enemies. It was puzzling to him how his grandfather could suddenly turn hostile towards them. Siyeon shared the same sense of confusion regarding his grandfather’s attitude.

“Go and keep your mother company, will you?”

“Yes, Grandfa…sir.”

Siyeon was about to call him “Grandfather” without thinking, but quickly changed her words. Her grandfather smiled at her and then quickly turned cold as soon as she left.

“Is it because of Gwihyeon that you treat Siyeon like that?”

Ijun’s expression also turned cold at his words.

“And do you plan to cut off ties with that family from now on? You should know that too.”

“What do you suddenly mean by that?”

Ijun’s eyes widened slightly. He looked at his grandfather, waiting for an explanation. The old man weakly stroked the wrinkles around his eyes with his dry palm. Seeing that feeble hand, Ijun felt a rising warmth in his chest and lowered his gaze.

Since Gwihyeon’s accident, no one in the family had been able to laugh or feel happy. Despite outward appearances of normalcy, resentment and hatred filled their hearts, ready to burst forth at the slightest provocation.

“Ijun, Gwihyeon… lied.”

Tears welled up in the corners of his grandfather’s eyes again. It was painful and heartbreaking to reveal the confession of the long-buried guilt and shame.

He had only wanted Ijun and the young couple to know until Gwihyeon woke up. However, upon hearing that Ijun had refused marriage and even skipped the honeymoon, he decided not to conceal it any longer.

“Grandfather.”

“Why did our Gwihyeon do that? Yes, he’s a bad guy. But why did he do it? Why did he get involved in their schemes?”

After sighing and exhaling heavily, his grandfather spoke with a solemn expression.

“…The day Siyeon was hospitalized in the same hospital as me, I went to her ward to see how she was doing. But I heard Siyeon and Professor Kim’s daughter arguing loudly inside. I heard something very shocking there.”

Siyeon had been admitted to the hospital the day after Ijun had harshly criticized her.

‘Although I occasionally inherited useful things like clothes or belongings my brother used when we were kids, but inheriting the woman who was almost married to him is just too much.’

It was the day Siyeon, who was promised to marry his brother, accepted marriage with Ijun. And Siyeon was in a lot of pain.

“Gwihyeon lied to us and dated Professor Kim’s daughter for five years.”

“…”

“He deceived us so easily. He told me he was dating Siyeon, but he was dating Professor Kim’s daughter. Gwihyeon knew, that kid, was Professor Kim’s real daughter for a long time.”

‘It wasn’t me. Gwihyeon oppa was planning to marry Kim Eunhye, not me.’

Ijun clenched his fists inwardly, his eyebrows twitching. He kept his lips tightly closed, staring only at his grandfather’s lips.

“I just can’t understand why Gwihyeon would lie like that. Even if I wanted to ask, lying there like that…”

He sighed deeply, looking into the void as if his chest felt suffocated. Then, with an even heavier voice than before, he continued.

“…Professor Kim’s mother committed a despicable act. How could she have done such a cruel and terrible thing?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“There was something bothering me among the words I heard that day. They were talking about a monk… and Gwihyeon’s name came up. My heart raced when I heard that. I immediately went to ask the monk about it, but he had already left on a pilgrimage, so it took a long time to meet him.

‘If you want to know the truth, go and see a monk named Jeongseon. He’s the one who started all this misfortune.’

The story that seemed impossible to comprehend fit together like a puzzle. Everything Siyeon had told him was true. It shouldn’t have been true, but it was.

“As soon as he saw my face, he knew who I was. Then he confessed the truth to me. No matter how precious her granddaughter is, how could that grandmother think of exchanging her for someone else’s child.”

“…Did the monk confess that to you directly?”

It was a story that he couldn’t believe even when he heard it directly from Siyeon’s real father. It was hard to believe that the monk confessed such an incredible fact with his own mouth.

Grandfather looked at Ijun with a stern expression.

“I knew I had to make him speak no matter what. If there was even a slight involvement of him in Gwihyeon’s accident, I was ready to kill him on the spot.”

His eyes glinted with determination. His grandfather was sincere. His precious grandson had been lying in a hospital bed for years without regaining consciousness, and if the monk had anything to do with the accident, he would not have returned unchanged.

“The story he told was unbelievable. Well, he said that Professor Kim’s daughter had a short life span, so by living as someone else’s child until the age of 25, she could avoid the curse. Professor Kim’s mother committed such a dreadful act. She switched the child and waited for 25 years, all because of that prophecy.”

The words of his grandfather and Siyeon’s story clashed in his ears. His mind grew cold, but his chest boiled like lava.

He hadn’t believe her words. At first, they were unbelievable, and then he didn’t want to believe them.

‘I died at twenty-seven in the winter and came back to the past and lived again.’

It was too absurd of a story.

‘…When I found out that I had returned back to ten years ago, the first thing I did was ask Gwihyeon for help to ensure that my father’s company wouldn’t go bankrupt. I knew that a few months later, Yeongjin’s trading partners would go bankrupt, causing a chain of bankruptcies.’

No, the strange feeling had started when Siyeon spoke about this. The company that was Yeongjin’s largest delivery partner did go bankrupt a few months later. Yet, despite this, he didn’t want to believe her story.

‘Let’s live like ordinary people for one year without registering our marriage…Then, you might be able to meet the woman you love again…So, just endure for a year.’

It was because of those words. He was afraid that her statement about not living past the age of twenty-seven might be true.

“He said that Kim Donghan had committed a serious mistake… but that the matter would soon be resolved… He told me that I have two grandsons, so I shouldn’t worry for long…”

His grandfather choked on his words, unable to finish and shed tears.

“I wanted to believe those words, to hold onto them like a lifeline… Even as I understood Professor Kim’s mother’s feelings, knowing that Gwihyeon had become like that, daring to covet you again is unforgivable.”

“…”

As tears fell from his grandfather’s eyes, Ijun sat silently without blinking or making a sound. The room was filled with heavy silence.

Loud laughter echoed from the main hall. Despite the festive atmosphere in the house, the family’s hearts were unable to rejoice fully. 

“…He said Gwihyeon will wake up. When he does, I will give him a severe scolding. I will make sure he never sets foot in Baekya Foods again. Thinking of Siyeon, who suffered until the age of 25 without being able to see her birth parents and being used by Gwihyeon, how can I forgive him?”

A sound of something bursting forth resonated in Ijun’s mind.

“That damned fool never thought about what you went through. He probably worried endlessly about what would happen if Professor Kim’s daughter really died. When Gwihyeon asked her to follow his orders, she couldn’t refuse and just nodded. He must have used that as an excuse. I didn’t even know that and repeatedly urged Siyeon to meet Gwihyeon,.”

Growing up wielding a sharp spear of hatred and anger, Ijun’s mind was ready to explode.

“Even if I want to blame Gwihyeon, I can’t because he’s lying there like that. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t pretend to know for Siyeon’s sake. So you should treat Siyeon well.”

“…”

“What I regret the most now is… when Siyeon said she liked you, I should have just told her to date you…. Instead, I insisted that she couldn’t be with you and she had to marry Gwihyeon.”

Ijun slowly lifted his eyes from the floor.

“Siyeon said she liked you, not Gwihyeon.”

“…”

That wretched girl. Ijun felt an intense hatred towards Siyeon as if he wanted to die.